“What do you mean, ‘what about it’? If you see I’m upset, why aren’t you comforting me like you used to?”
Ma Fangfang glared at her father, her cheeks puffed out in anger.
Instead of responding immediately, Ma Hongxin calmly took a bite of his food, chewed, and swallowed before replying in a measured tone:
“Fangfang, you’re fourteen now—not a little kid anymore. Can you stop throwing tantrums like this?”
Ma Fangfang froze for a second. Then, tears welled up in her eyes.
“You… you never used to talk to me like this!”
With that, she leapt from her chair, wiped her tears, and fled the dining room.
Watching her run off, Huanhuan—her personal maid—felt a pang of worry. But knowing the true master of the household was still present, and that she couldn’t act without his orders, she suppressed the urge to chase after the girl.
Turning to Ma Hongxin, she asked hesitantly:
“Sir, Miss hasn’t eaten dinner yet. Should I bring her back… or at least take the food to her room?”
Ma Hongxin replied without hesitation:
“No need. I spoiled her too much in the past, and that’s why she’s grown so willful. If she’s going to have a decent future, she needs to learn a lesson. Let her go hungry tonight.”
“But—” Huanhuan bit back her words, remembering her place. “…Yes, sir.”
With that, she retreated to her post.
…
Meanwhile, as Ma Fangfang ran back to her room in tears, Yan Qi—who had been fruitlessly searching the girl’s bedroom for the cultivation manual—finally turned her attention to a small, inconspicuous safe tucked away in a corner.
“Seriously? You put some cheap, questionable old book bought online… in a safe?”
Sighing, she stared at the safe, brainstorming ways to open it without causing a commotion.
Just then, her electronic surveillance alerted her to someone approaching the room.
“Someone’s coming—wait, isn’t that the princess herself? Shouldn’t she be eating dinner?”
A quick check of the cameras confirmed it was indeed Ma Fangfang.
With no time to wonder why the girl was back so soon, Yan Qi activated her Digital Roaming skill, converting herself into data and slipping into the internet to hide.
Not a moment too soon—with a loud BANG, Ma Fangfang kicked open her bedroom door, stormed inside, and slammed it shut behind her. Still wiping her tears, she flung herself onto the bed, buried her face under the blankets, and burst into loud sobs.
Peering through the laptop camera, Yan Qi watched the scene with confusion.
“Huh? Why’s she crying all of a sudden?”
Since she’d been too busy searching the room earlier, she hadn’t noticed the argument in the dining room. Curious, she pulled up the surveillance footage to review what had happened.
“Oh, so she fought with her dad. No wonder she ran back crying.”
Unsympathetic toward the spoiled girl, Yan Qi was about to close the video—when something caught her attention.
“Wait… that doesn’t seem right.”
She quickly rewound the footage to the moment Ma Hongxin had first entered the dining room.
What she saw made her pause:
The man’s initial expression upon seeing his daughter had been one of warmth—but after a brief flicker of pain, it vanished, replaced by cold indifference.
“There’s definitely something wrong with him.”
Though she didn’t care about Ma Hongxin’s wellbeing, the fact remained that she still hadn’t gotten her hands on the cultivation manual.
Deciding to investigate, Yan Qi quickly transferred herself to one of Ma Hongxin’s electronic devices, allowing her to sense his aura up close.
Almost immediately, she detected it—a foreign energy clinging to him, laced with supernatural power.
“So when Ma Fangfang said her dad was ‘possessed,’ she wasn’t just being dramatic?”
After a moment’s analysis, Yan Qi confirmed that the energy was weaker than her own. Her Enchanting Voice skill would be enough to break whatever influence was controlling him.
With that settled, she left Ma Hongxin’s device and returned to Ma Fangfang’s room via the network.
Watching the girl still crying under her blankets, Yan Qi—who had initially felt no pity—softened slightly.
“Alright, alright. Since you’re so heartbroken… I’ll help you out.”